Yes - it's official - we now OWN our very own shit box. We signed all the paperwork today - the closing statement, the insurance... every i is dotted and every t is crossed. Which is a good thing, because you can't spell shit-box with either of those letters :) We had a celebratory late breakfast with Natalie at the Copper Kettle - where Rich did a little tee shirt manufacturer scouting (they have copper kettle t shirts with nifty metallic writing - and Rich enquired as to whom had produced them).
Most of the day was spent at Lowes and Menard's purchasing materials for the big Najuch invasion. We needed roofing supplies - a ginormous roll of the rubber roofing for patches, and some pvc pipes and gravel to produce some sort of go-go-gadget rubber roof leveling apparatus. They are going to cap off these long lengths of pvc and then fill them with gravel and water - and that will pull down the rubber coating in the places where it won't drain. Imagine you have a bead of mercury on a waterbed, and you want the bead of mercury to travel in one particular direction... you squish your finger down and inch it along the bed, right? Well, apparently this is like a giant finger... and we've already established at this point that our entire building is practically a water bed.

We also got a kick plate for the new door o' fanciness on the storefront, and the supplies for TILING the bathroom....
did you hear that? Tile. In the bathroom. Which implies that eventually there WILL BE a bathroom. I would be really excited except for the fact that I'M the sap who is in charge of leading the tiling crew. Tiling a tabletop on plywood I can handle - but this involves putting up the concrete backer-board, which I'm a little nervous about. Heck - they'll probably fall off the roof maneuvering giant gravel filled lengths of pipe... so if I screw up, who's gonna know?

Something we purchased today which is pretty worthy of a product placement are these babies:

It's a box o' rags. When you skim coat (which is going dandy, BTW) you have to constantly wipe off the trowel blade or it just screws up the next go-round of wiping along where you rollered. So you can use paper towels - which aren't sturdy enough and you have to keep tearing off and chucking.... or b) use your pants (which I did yesterday... and today my pants can walk on their own.... or c) tuck some of these in your pant waist band and replenish when needed.

They are actual t shirt material...and they are a great size. So - go ahead.... get yourself a box and go to town. Wipe up spills....make a quilt... let your mind run wild. But they work real nice.

Later in the evening I put the final skim coat on the test wall. It's pretty remarkable the difference. It still needs a final sanding (Janice put a moratorium on the activity since MY wall is in close proximity to HER kitchen.... and dinner time was approaching. The skim-coat sanding does produce a LOT of dust - to the point where I debated buying one of the attachments they make for the shop vac specifically designed for the purpose. They make a sanding block that attaches to a hose that sucks through to the shop vac. So the dust get whooshed away rather than flying EVERYWHERE... We figured since the foyer is basically going to be a construction zone for a while, the dust doesn't matter... but if it starts to be a more regular activity I think the twenty buck are worth it. In the meantime, I need to make myself start wearing a dust mask. And washing my hair tonight was NOT FUN... if you ever were in cheezy community theatre and you did that "dump talcum powder on your head to get grey hair" thing... well it feels like that times ten.

Aunt Sheryl made taco pie... And, as if you need to ask really - taco and pie... what's not to love. :) I'm afraid Janice's kitchen is rapidly going to disappear as we get further into the foyer renovations... but if we get diverted to the Shit Box for a week or two in order to ready it for rental... it might get a stay of execution. Cuz - like the old adage says - you can't install a round bar in a square concession stand. Or something to that effect.

So it really was a big day of prep for the weekend - so I wish I had a million fun pictures - but just hold tight.

Thanks for the feedback on the logos - keep 'em coming. Winston made a very good point about the Rich-preferred logo capitalizing on a landmark that everyone in the area is familiar with... so not taking advantage of that instant recognition is a waste.

Well - I'll have lots for you tomorrow - if i haven't tiled myself into a corner.